Literature and Time Periods
As history has a tendency to categorize events into eras by the time periods that surround them, so does literature with its works. Both categorizations are superficial, ignoring significant distinctions that separate material for the sake of convenience, or present perception. The prehistoric era, for example, is a superficial designation for all time before written historical records, even though there are distinctions within this period, which are markedly different in historical terms. “Medieval” is defined by Webster’s II New Riverside Dictionary as “the period of European History extending approximately from A.D. 476 to 1453.” Fortunately, for convenience, this span of time encompasses both the Old English period and the Middle English period as well. As exemplified by the Old English poem Beowulf and the Middle English poetry of Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales and their cohabitation under the heading of “Medieval Literature”, this categorization is not only superficial, but also inaccurate.
One defining difference between the two periods of literature and their selected representatives is the language from which they are spawned. Old English was a Germanic dialect spoken by a people who were composed mainly of Angles and Saxons, intermixed with Jutes, Frisians, and Celts, with some Roman blood still in the veins of some inhabitants. Middle English is the result of the Norman Conquest, and was spoken by the now native English people, intermixed with the French. The assimilation of the French language of that already spoken on the Island made for great changes. The lexicon of Old English differed somewhat from Middle English, most of which is completely lost today. There are some words that still have reflexives present in both Modern and Middle English. Beowulf offered his help to the Danish “cyning”, Old English for “king”. Chaucer lays mention of a song in the Miller’s tale, “the Kinges Note” (108). The word is similar but certainly not the same. Beowulf eats “hlaf”, Old English for “bread”, while Nicholas, Alisoun, and John eat “breed”(520) in the Miller’s Tale. Until Grendel came, Hrothgar lived in “glsan”, or luxury, before the appearance of Grendel, who “amyrrede”, or squandered, his men. The languages differ structurally as well. Old English was a highly inflectional, synthetic language. Grammar was founded on cases, leaving a rather liberal syntactical structure. Middle English, however, was a lesser inflectional, analytic language, which relied on grammar in the syntax itself.
- - - The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History. London, England, Penguin Books, no publication
Boardman, Phillip C. "Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343-1400)." Enduring Legacies: Ancient and Medieval Cultures. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson Custom Pub., 2000. 430-54. Print.
Throughout most of her novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley establishes a them stating no one can be born evil but the life a person lives turns them evil. The creature becomes a monster everyone believes him to be after continuous rejection and abuse. This is the reason why readers become more sympathetic towards Frankenstein's creation than any other character in the novel.
In this essay, I will uncover the countless insights that can be learned about the characters in Beowulf, as well as the society as a whole, based on the weapons the characters choose to use in battle. During the Anglo-Saxon time, roughly between 400 and 1066, swords were considered the most precious weapon someone could own. Although it is not certain who wrote Beowulf, and when, many people believe it was composed in the middle to end of the Anglo-Saxon period. Analyzing the different weapons, and significance of each, in Beowulf, and comparing them to the weaponry at the time, provides the readers with a great deal of insight into the society during this period. The use of weapons in Beowulf not only provides the readers with insight into
Within popular discourse, the historical period of the Middle Ages is synonymous with the term “Dark Ages”: how did this particular equation come about? The immediate connotations of the Dark Ages are clearly negative: they suggest oppression, ignorance and a period of motionless in human development. The reason behind this description of the Middle Ages is arguably the result of a contrast to the subsequent periods of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment: the Renaissance itself signals a “new birth”, whereas the Enlightenment clearly evokes images of a new insight and vision wielded by humanity. Accordingly, the negative values ascribed to the Middle Ages are the result of this historical period’s difference to the Renaissance. Such an account, namely, judges the Middle Ages from an entirely different world-view.
The purpose of writing this paper is to discuss the pros and cons of my diet. The nutritional analysis have thought me that my choices are not terrible but they are not the beast. However, a healthy lifestyle is necessary if I want to enjoy this life without health complications. Always Including some form of vegetable, fruits, and carbohydrates in my diet is ideal. However, that may not be on a regular basis and the portion might be too small to make a difference or too much to cause harm. I have learned how many grams of fat, saturated fat and protein should be consumed per day by my body.
Seafaring, paganism, and the hero’s code were all imperative traditions of the ancient Anglo Saxon English culture. Bede's fictional work A History of the English Church and People clearly doesn't help in the audiences’ understanding of these traditions although it expresses the general idea of the culture. Ultimately, the epic poem Beowulf reveals and ties these traditions together to make it easier to understand, while enjoying the tale of the epic hero Beowulf. This fictional piece is best suited in understanding the culture of the Ancient Anglo-Saxon English, because overall, the epic poem Beowulf sheds more light on the Ancient Anglo Saxons.
The analysis of my dietary intake for two days is demonstrated on the chart below with the USDA guidelines for my age, gender and lifestyle group, a sedentary female over 50, as a comparison to the food groups and nutrients consumed (Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005):
In Blake’s work “The Lamb,” he shows innocence through sheep and their nature. Blake describes sheep’s nature by saying that they “Feed/By the stream & o'er the mead/ have thee clothing of delight/ Softest clothing, wooly, bright” (Blake 4-6). This passage shows that sheep are providers to man and show no harm. Blake says that sheep has a, “tender voice/ making all the vales rejoice?” (Blake 7-8). Blake makes sheep seem to have a joyful emotion and wants to share it with others. The sheep has a tender voice which means it is not intimidating. Natoli, who is the author of the novel William Blake, says that,
Overall, I am pleased with the changes that I have made to my diet, and plan to continue working towards my goals. In order to accomplish my goals in the future, I will try to slowly increase my fruit, vegetable, and whole grain consumption. Another goal that I need to work on will be to slowly limit the amount of meat products that I consume. Incorporating these changes will help me to accomplish my goals of increasing my calories and decreasing my protein intake to the recommended values set by the Dietary Reference intakes. As long as I can continue to practice these healthier ways of eating, I am sure to have a longer and healthier life and decrease my risks of chronic diseases as I age.
In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, most literary works revolved around the dismissal and concept of progress with an evident desire to retreat back to the pure and simple lifestyles of the earlier ages. This is a prime example of how events, our history, and our society can affect our literature. Literature is greatly intertwined with our history, society, and lives. Literature has changed over time, has a major impact on our society, and affects us, as people.
...e completely healthy attempting to avoid my punishment and then there were days where I ultimately caved and failed at eating well. On those days, I followed the rules I set in place and worked out as I said I would that evening. Part of the time my boyfriend would inevitably cause me to falter by cooking a nice fattening meal, but I don’t blame him at all considering it was up to me to make the decision to refrain from eating it. I probably didn’t do as well as I could have around lunch time or dinner but I’m glad at the fact that I did keep away from sweets and snacks throughout the entire week. I was really intrigued with getting good results for this project so I tried my hardest to actually follow the program set. Even if I don’t keep with this change after the project it’s very comforting to know I CAN eat healthy when I want and I CAN workout if I need too.
However, I was not surprised in the least, since I live in America’s fast food crazed society. There still seems to be a fast food restaurant on every corner, even to this day. With the cost of living increasing yearly it appears that no one has the time to cook at home, since most people are working longer and longer hours. As a vegetarian I often have problems finding food in public when I am too busy to make myself a lunch for school or work. Due to this dilemma, I have made a list of places that serve vegetarian options. Still, the options are few and far between. The movie Super-Size Me further validated my frustrations with the fast food industry. Not only is there a lack of healthy choices at most restaurants, fast food outlets, and schools, but none of these restaurants seem to want to cater to a plant based diet. Super-size me taught me that most of the fast food industry is geared toward food addiction. Sadly, a plant based diet does not have the same money making potential as diary, meat, and simple sugar carbohydrates. After watching Super-Size Me I found myself more motivated to progress my diet towards a strict vegan diet. Hopefully, soon I will be successful in transitioning to a vegan
My calories intake for these two days were very low than the required calories intake. On day one, my total calorie intake was 1695 Kcals only and the next day, it was 2098 Kcals. According to Canada’s Food Guide a male adult (19-30y) requires 2700-3000 Kcals intake per day. I found my calories intake was very low. So, I decided to make a great change in my food choices and servings to maintain a required calories intake per
Thirty years ago, if I told you that the primary means of communicating and disseminating information would be a series of interconnected computer networks you would of thought I was watching Star Trek or reading a science fiction novel. In 2010, the future of mass media is upon us today; the Internet. The Internet is and will only grow in the future as the primary means of delivering news, information and entertainment to the vast majority of Americans. Mass media as we know it today will take new shape and form in the next few years with the convergence and migration of three legacy mediums (Television, Radio, Newspaper) into one that is based on the Internet and will replace these mediums forever changing the face of journalism, media and politics. In this paper I will attempt to explain the transition of print media to one of the internet, how the shift to an internet based media environment will impact journalism and mass media, and how this migration will benefit society and forever change the dynamic of news and politics.